Waste creeps toward Yucca Mountain

Nevada's Yucca Mountain is one step closer to
becoming a temporary nuclear waste dump. Republicans rushed a bill
to the Senate floor before the August break that would clear the
way for shipping nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain as early as 1998
(HCN, 4/1/96). It passed in late July despite an attempted
filibuster by Democratic Nevada Sens. Richard Bryan and Harry
Reid.

The move is the latest effort by the
nuclear industry to get rid of spent reactor fuel stored at nuclear
power plants around the country. While the Department of Energy is
considering Yucca Mountain as a possible site for a permanent
repository, suitability studies have raised safety
concerns.

Dump opponents think they have an ace
in the hole: Bob Loux, of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects,
says Speaker Newt Gingrich could decide not to introduce the bill
in the House since President Clinton has promised a
veto.